February 2017 Sightings

It was near 50 degrees and I found 2 fresh Orange Sulphurs. Hopefully, an overwintering butterfly will reveal itself to me soon.

[This is our first record for February and probably ensures that we will have butterfly records for all 12 months of 2017. In five of our log's ten years – 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2015 – we had no records at all for January or February – or both. Nice find, Will! jc]

Very active. One of four was white form.

[Another American snout record – three on the day – suggesting the species is capable of over-wintering in southern NJ (in warm winters). Very interesting! jc]

Partly to mostly sunny, high reaching 69 degrees. Very happy with the activity and surprise finds. All overwintering butterflies. Everything flying wasn't sitting very long and soon disappeared on us.

[Moderator's Note: These three species are all new for 2017. Nice! This is the second year in a row that we have found American snout apparently over-wintering in the adult stage in southern NJ. jc]

Found only one Orange Sulphur. Did discover different wasp species, a Lady Bug, a Milkweed Bug and my first Winter Firefly in other locations.

11:30- 12:30, 65-70, light breeze, sun through high clouds. Many times I have noticed that one bfly often flushes other bflys even of disparate species, and that is what happened today. Within a minute in a 20 yard stretch I saw two bflys. The azure did not land, but I got to follow it down the road until it veered off. I was fortunate to get a long range shot of the snout. In the last 3 days, I have walked more than 15 miles including hours of fruitless searching in CMWR, Belleplain, Higbee Beach and MacNamara, but finally had this lucky stretch. I also saw 6 spotted turtles late in the day at MacNamara.

[Cool! Or, actually, surprisingly warm. On a 70+ degree day we had three records of American snouts on 2-8-17 (see Steve G and Harvey T's reports below) and our first blueberry azure of the year. The latter is our second-earliest ever – topped only by last year's freakish appearance of the species on January 10 (and in December, 2015). jc]

This CW was soaking in the sun on the inside of our front door at the garden center. Though I wouldn't presume this qualifies as a legitimate sighting, it was still pretty neat! There is mild heating inside our garden center over the winter, so I'm assuming it pupated in the fall, and now has just hatched due to a few warmer days.

[Moderator: I agree with Matt that this is probably too "artificial" to count as our FOY for the species in 2017. (It would also break our all-time earliest date of 2-27-12 by almost two weeks.) However, let's see what happens this weekend with the 60+ degrees predicted. If we have another cabbage white sighting, we may have to rethink. jc]

Even though this powerline has been clear-cut there is hope for the Elfins. The edges and side roads should support this year's brood giving them another year for the habitat to recover. Snout has obviously overwintered after having a good year last year.

I was somewhat surprised by this sighting on the hill where Mourning Cloaks are often seen. This Red Admiral was in good shape and active.

[This is our FOY for red admiral for 2017. Last reports of the species were in the first week of December. Neat! jc]

I saw this E. Comma in flight, then perched in a pine, and finally it landed on the ground right in front of me.

[This and the commas reported by Steve G and Harvey T are our FOYs for 2017 – the first reported since Dec 1. jc]

Found 2 fresh Blueberry Azures on the road and 2 active Question Marks.

Strong numbers again on a 71 degree February day. The inside road was calm and warm. Most of the butterflies were patrolling along stretches of the road or a nearby powerline cut area.

[We had two reports of eastern comma today – see C. Allen's report above. American snouts now outnumber any other February in our ten years. jc]

Checked out several spots but only activity near Carpenter & "nowhere road"–possible 2nd anglewing here.

The two photos are of one butterfly. The dorsal view is comma while the ventral view field call might easily be question mark. Oh, the mistakes that can be made.

Discovered a Mourning Cloak and a Question Mark moving in and out of the forest.
The Question Mark landed on a railroad tie.

Found five species of butterflies at this location and a 6th butterfly species elsewhere which is now my personal high for the month of February through the years.

The heat brought out 3 fresh Orange Sulphurs in a field that appeared to be done producing them for awhile.

Sunny, warm (72 degrees) with activity seen in early afternoon.

First stop. Full sun, light breeze, temperature rising into the low 70's. I ran into Harvey as we were both here hoping to spy azures. No luck here, however.

Sunny and warm (71 degrees), with expected activity in the late morning.

At 12:30 it was sunny and 62 degrees. As I was returning to work from lunch, a Mourning Cloak floated over the parking lot about 30 feet off the ground.

The Am. Snout was flying slowly low to the ground when it suddenly shot up into a dense thicket of trees. This species was also observed at Woodcock Trail in early March 2012 by Pat and Clay Sutton.

Jack and I arrived and left at different times but the bugs below we saw together. Snouts continue to amaze

Last stop of the day. Cool dogfights between the Red Admiral and E. comma. Strange that this Admiral was in the exact location of my first one last year on 3-1-16. Azure photos are of two different bugs. I am quite sure that I have never photoed 6 different butterflies on one February day before.

A challenging bfly who insisted on staying high in some pines.

All four anglewings were most uncooperative. While the air temp exceeded 70 degrees, the sand roads were quite cold to the touch. The highlight here today was an absolutely stunning Red Shouldered Hawk.

Discovered three species of overwintering butterflies - no snouts. That comes later in the day from a new location.